Lone Wolf No More
by phoenixreal
Summary: AU Post Vizard Training. Ichigo is feeling odd after he controls his inner hollow, and Aizen decides to remove the unknown variable he presents. Once in Las Noches, he gains the attention of a certain and lonely primera who may not agree with Aizen's plan to break the substitute shinigami. Warnings: Noncon, lemon, violence, torture. StarkXIchigo alpha/beta/soulbound fic.


**Lone Wolf No More**

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A/N: Burning up my thoughts. So yes, a NON HAREM story. Alpha/Beta type thing, but doing it more along the lines of souls linking. This is pure IchigoXStark romance.

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**Chapter One**

_Curiosity Awakened_

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Loneliness had become such a part of his life that he honestly didn't know what to think about it anymore. And it was such a constant companion that even Lillinette didn't completely ease his pain, because she was, after all, only a part of his soul. He lay in his pile of pillows and hoped that it brought him the warmth and comfort that he desperately wanted from another body. It was lonely, but it had been better since he'd found Aizen and those that weren't crushed by the sheer force of his reiatsu. He feigned sleep as the door opened and Lillinette's familiar weight settled onto his chest.

"Wake up, lazy ass," she said, reaching up and peeling his eyelids up. He smiled at her sadly. She knew he wasn't really asleep.

"What is it, _mija_?" he asked softly, sighing. "I'd rather sleep."

"Come on, Aizen-_sama_ has something to discuss with us. I guess some threat to his position he wants neutralized, or better yet, in his hands," she said with an eye roll.

Stark groaned. "Very well," he said. "He won't send me, however."

He left the green haired girl behind and headed down the conference room and found a seat with a sigh. He listened as Aizen made the plans to acquire his trophy. He claimed that this person was worth far more than anything save the hogyuku, and would prove to be a distraction if not removed from play. He claimed that he planned to make the life of those in Soul Society miserable before he was finished. He would prove their arrogance would be their downfall. Ulquiorra, Yammy, and Grimmjow were being sent for retrieval. Stark yawned once again after the meeting and went back to his rooms to sleep the rest of the day away, as he did most days. After all, how else could he spend his days, except alone?

-oooooo – Karakura Town –oooooo-

He was sweating again. Eleven seconds. He had to get more than eleven seconds… He didn't have time as the mask shattered again. He inwardly cursed as Hiyori was pressing him again. Harder now, he had to get this under control or he would be of no use in the coming battles. And if he didn't, he was going to get another flip-flop to the head. He went tumbling again, and got to his feet and set to go again…

"Oi, enough," yelled Shinji. "Come on, break for a while, you two."

Hiyori agreed and sighed as they left the warehouse. "I want to go check on something with getabishi," Ichigo said with a sigh. "So, I'll meet you back here in an hour?"

"Got it," the two vizard said with a wave.

Ichigo flashed away, because there was something bugging him. A lot. Ever since he managed to subdue the inner hollow, something had been niggling at the back of his mind. Something felt…wrong. He entered the shoten and down to the basement area where he sensed Urahara, Chad and Renji were.

"Getabishi!" he called out and the man came over to him.

He smiled and snapped his fan open. "Yare, yare, what can I do, Ichigo-san?"

"Can we talk about something…upstairs?" he asked, frowning.

For a second, he swore Urahara looked confused. But he nodded and they headed back upstairs and he offered him tea. "So, what is it?"

Ichigo swallowed. "Since…since I got _him_ under control, I've been feeling…weird. Not just with the mask, but all the time…" he said slowly, sipping the tea.

Urahara tipped his head to the side. "How so?"

"Like…something's missing. Something huge is just…not there. It…it isn't like I've lost anything, just something is not there that I desperately need and I don't know what it is…" he said thoughtfully. "Something that has never been there, but it was only once the hollow surfaced and I got some sort of control that I realized it."

Urahara looked thoughtful. "It would be impossible…" he muttered finally.

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"Hollows are like animals, pure, base instincts. Well one of those is the consume, another is to procreate, and while they don't do this like living beings, I've seen more sentient hollows take mates for short periods or lifetimes, which is often until one is devoured by another hollow. But I've never seen one of the vizard have these compulsions. Perhaps…perhaps your hollow is stronger than the others…" he said thoughtfully.

Ichigo sat for a moment. "Well, I'll go back to the warehouse then, figure this out later. It isn't causing any problems…I just didn't know if it was related to being a vizard…and well it is kinda embarrassing to tell Shinji and his bunch this kind of stuff."

Urahara gave him a rare, genuine smile. "Well, I am honored, now, get back, Ichigo-san before Hiyori-san plants her flip flop where it is not desired…"

Ichigo smiled and left. He always felt a bit better after talking to Urahara, even if he was now a bit more worried about what was happening. About halfway to the warehouse, an overwhelming pulse of reiatsu stopped him. He looked around and heard sonido. Arrancar, but where? He whipped around on the electric pole he'd stopped on, only to be face to face with Grimmjow, the one he'd fought not long before, still missing his arm. He reached out and grabbed him by the neck and Ichigo realized that he couldn't move. Kido? No, this was different, this was deeper, more base than that… He looked behind the blue haired arrancar and saw a garganta opening behind him and felt sweeping blackness threatening to overtake him.

"Ichigo!" he heard below him. He glanced down and saw Renji coming toward him as he was lifted from his frozen spot and hefted over Grimmjow's whole shoulder and then he was staring behind him at the monstrous arrancar that he'd met before and the green eyed one. They were staring at Renji no doubt.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Ichigo sensed Urahara and Yoruichi then too.

"Well, takin' what we want," he heard Grimmjow say and felt the vibrations of his voice through his whole body. It tingled through every nerve cell, it seemed. He was vaguely glad Kon was in his human body.

"What do you want with Kurosaki?" asked Renji. Ichigo wished he could see… And just as he thought that, he was flipped and being held against Grimmjow's chest, his one hand around Ichigo's neck, the other clutched into his bicep keeping him up in the air beside him.

Renji, Urahara and Yoruichi were staring at him, and he caught he look in Renji's eyes. He was afraid. And that look rarely crossed Renji's face.

"What?" Grimmjow said, tightening his grip. "Ya don't want me ta take yer pet?"

"Pet?" Urahara asked, brows knitting.

"Sure, after all, he's a sweet thing, ain't he?" Grimmjow said, nails digging into his neck until blood began to drip down into his collar bone. "See, Aizen decided that the best way to control this…unknown variable…would be to simply own him for himself."

"Grimmjow, do not damage him. Aizen-sama will not be pleased," Ulquiorra said impassively. "We're instructed to bring him back uninjured. You do not wish to lose your other arm for your insolence." Beside him, Yammy snickered.

"What do you mean?" Renji asked. "He isn't anyone's pet to be owned."

Grimmjow pulled back and tossed his frozen body backward suddenly, only to be caught by Yammy's grip on his shoulders. He blinked, feeling the bruises starting to form there.

"What did you do to him?" asked Yoruichi, knowing full well that if he could fight, Ichigo would.

"Oh that?" Grimmjow said, arching a brow. "Just a little something to keep him still. Works really well on hollows…funny how it works on him, isn't it? We weren't sure if it would, he's supposed ta be a shinigami after all. But surprise… Think it might be because he's more hollow than human? Guess we'll find out…because Hueco Mundo will awaken that hollow if he is."

"Ichigo, can you speak?" Urahara called. All he could do was blink rapidly and roll his eyes between each of them in response. Not a muscle seemed to answer his request.

"Now, if you don't mind, he has an appointment with Aizen," Grimmjow said with a smirk, and they stepped through the garganta. The moment he was inside, Ichigo felt his consciousness slip away completely.

-oooooo-Las Noches-oooooo-

Ichigo couldn't sense anything. The world was black and fuzzy and there was no sense to it at all. He blinked wearily though and found himself coming to consciousness with such sluggishness he wondered if he wasn't actually dead. When his eyes cleared, he could see he was lying down, on a hard floor, it seemed. His neck ached horribly for some reason, and his head was too heavy to lift. He was staring across a floor, it seemed, and he could see shoes, no not shoes, people wearing shoes…of different kinds, so this wasn't soul society, they weren't sandals and tabi… Speaking of, he wasn't wearing shoes. Scratch that, he wasn't wearing _anything._ If he could move, he might have cared, but he couldn't even think of moving anything. His wrists felt painfully heavy and so did his ankles. And he couldn't feel his reiatsu. At all…

"Think he's awake, finally, Aizen-sama," a voice he didn't know said nearby. He blinked and saw a pair of white hakama kneel before him and he felt his head being tilted upward to look into Aizen's face. He might have gulped or gasped if he'd had the energy.

"Ah, there we are, some life in you yet, pet," he murmured softly and Ichigo tried to respond but his mouth wouldn't seem to form anything like words. "Hush, no reason to get too excited, not yet, you're far too weak. Your reiatsu has been sealed with the shackles and the collar. It will take you a few days before you can even stand again. So you'll be staying here and enjoying the company of the various espada and me as well," he said, brushing a hand down the back of his head in a tender fashion that sent a shiver down Ichigo's spine. "Such power you have…without it you are a mere kitten…" he said softly.

He put his head back down and Ichigo struggled a long moment to raise it again to no avail, ending up with his breath heaving in his chest for the effort. There was a moment and something was dropped over him. Perhaps a blanket? It was warmer, and he was cold to his core from the ice cold floor he was on. At least it gave him some part of his privacy back, even if it was only a small part. He felt his eyelids close slowly and found the darkness a small comfort.

Stark watched as the shinigami fell back to sleep. He had been unsure of this plan in the beginning, but then to find out that the person Aizen was taking was a human boy with the power of a hollow and a shinigami, and possibly the only threat that soul society could raise against him… More than that, there was something about the boy that he connected with. He was immensely powerful, and it had taken all five binding shackles to completely suppress his reiatsu. Even then, there was no way to tell for sure if his reiatsu was really under complete suppression. And Stark could sense the loneliness inside him, and he knew that he was lonely because of that power. He was dangerous to others. And he knew it.

"What is your plan, Aizen-sama?" he asked, as the traitor shinigami sat down again.

"I plan to make him mine. A few weeks of consistent torture and pain and he'll break for me and will willingly lie at my feet. And when Soul Society sees their great hero groveling before me, then they will realize that they are lost. All of them," he said with a grim smile.

Stark yawned and nodded, watching as Aizen left. He stood and went to stare at the boy. Grimmjow had come up beside him.

"Primera, what do you think of this plan?" he asked suddenly, hands pressed into his pockets deeply.

"Of this?" Stark asked, motioning to the sleeping form on the floor.

"Yeah, this," Grimmjow said, eyes landing on him. "He's a helluva fighter, young as he is, gave me a good one until Tosen came and got me. Don't know why he sent me, since he put fuckin' Luppi in the sexta position," he said, rubbing at the place where his arm should have been.

Stark paused. "You are bothered by the way he is handling this, turning him into a slave for his own benefit like this displeases you," Stark said, stifling another yawn.

"No one with a fighting spirit like him should be reduced to…what Aizen wants," he said and turned to leave.

Stark stood a while longer and thought over the ex-sexta had said. If he could do this sort of thing to a boy, what could he do to the arrancar? Grimmjow was already at outs with Aizen over the loss of his arm. Not that Grimmjow was fond of him to begin with. Hollows were drawn to power and he exuded power. He promised power. And now, they had all become more powerful. He pulled off his glove and examined the one on his hand for a long time. What did it mean to be the primera? He was more powerful than the rest? What did any of it matter if he couldn't rid himself of the deep pain that radiated out from the place his heart should have been.

He turned, thinking, perhaps Aizen would be unsuccessful and the boy wouldn't break. But wasn't that a lot to ask of a human? He made his way slowly to his rooms, forgoing sonido to think more on the issue. It was unlike him to be so very thoughtful about something such as this. He fell into his pillows and drifted off again. What else was there to do except sleep, after all?

-oooooo-Karakura Town-oooooo-

"What do we do?" Rukia demanded. "We have no idea what he plans!"

Urahara held up his hands to settle her down. "I know, come now, getting upset won't help. Now…"

He blinked and realized that he felt a garganta opening nearby again. No words were spoken but Urahara, Shinji, Rukia and Renji, who had all been meeting at the shoten over the kidnapping of Ichigo were off at once. They found themselves staring at Grimmjow, the one who had taken him, standing casually where he'd come out of the garganta, looking up into the sky behind him.

"Ya know, good ta see tha real sky now and then," he commented and turned back to face the four shinigami with a grin.

"What do you want? What have you done with Ichigo?" Renji demanded.

"So pushy," Grimmjow said with a sigh. "Just here to deliver a message of intent from Aizen-teme. Said he wanted Soul Society to know so you could see how worthless you are against him. He intends to take your boy and break him until he's nothing more than a groveling shell at his feet. His words, not mine. Now, see I don't like that really, but can't do much without my other arm…" he said thoughtfully. "So there ya go."

"Wait!" Urahara called out. "What would happen if you had your arm back again?"

Grimmjow snorted and arched a brow. "I'd take my place back from fuckin' Luppi to be sexta again. Then maybe I'd have access to information about the kid. Why? You can't fix this."

Urahara shook his head. "No, but I know someone who can. Renji?"

Renji nodded and disappeared. Urahara turned back. "Why?"

Grimmjow shrugged. "Maybe no reason. Maybe I have a reason. Or maybe I'm lying and doing what Aizen says. You can't tell."

"Come down to the ground, Orihime can't come up here," Urahara said and flashed down to where Renji was appearing with Inoue at his side.

Inoue looked nervous as Grimmjow appeared but said nothing. He stared at her for a moment. "So you can fix this, woman?" he asked. She nodded and moved forward, and a short time later, Grimmjow's arm was returned to him. He looked at her then turned and lifted his shirt. "This too, woman," he said. She did as he asked, the stylized six returning to his skin. He grinned at her.

"We'll see how this plays out, but I have a replacement to kill," he said, flicking open the garganta and stepping through.

He left them, sure they were wondering what he was up to. He wasn't sure what he was up to, to be honest. But if nothing else, he'd gotten his arm back, and soon, he'd have his position. That was enough. But then the question was, what would he do about the prisoner they'd acquired? And what exactly did Aizen intend to do with him? Torture, sure, but he didn't see that brat breaking too easily, especially under mere pain. He was human after all, not a hollow. The whole situation bothered the espada. He'd never liked Aizen. He knew that Stark wasn't impressed. Who else was displeased with Aizen and his bid for power, he wondered. He would find out…

He passed through the hallways toward Luppi's rooms. He passed the conference room and noticed Stark was sitting there again, watching the sleeping form. He entered and he turned toward him.

"I see you regained your arm while you were delivering Aizen-sama's message to the shinigami," he commented slowly.

"Yeah, well, opportunity presented, so I took it," Grimmjow answered, eyes traveling toward the huddled form. He'd gained some strength, even in sleep, he'd managed to pull his arms and legs into his body. "Do you think he'll even survive being cut off like this?"

Stark shook his head. "No se. It may be or may not be, he was strong to begin with, even as a human. But five bindings…that is much."

"Is there anyone else that comes by to see him?" Grimmjow asked thoughtfully.

Stark looked up and narrowed his eyes at the blue-eyed espada. "Si, Ulquiorra has been by, he seems fascinated by his ability to survive being sealed. And of course, Szayel has been by, administering something in an injection. I am unsure what he is doing."

Grimmjow grimaced. Szayel. Whatever he was doing was no doubt bad for the boy. He nodded and left the primera in the room that few of the other arrancar would approach with him sitting inside. Something was different about him, but he wasn't sure what exactly. And what the hell was Szayel doing, Grimmjow wondered again. He didn't trust him. Experimentation when done by that bastard usually meant death by painful means.


End file.
